Having not long married socialist farmer, Tom, Molly Kennedy and her husband tried unsuccessfully to conceive. As time passed, it became more obvious that Tom was infertile and with both longing for a child, Molly had a brief affair with family friend, Ronald Davies-Smythe in order to do so. One night, Molly came home and admitted her infidelity to her husband and understanding the reason behind it, Tom agreed to stand by her and raise the baby as his own. A few months later in July 1955, the pair welcomed baby Karl into the world.

As Karl’s 16th birthday approached, Molly had him helping to organise his own surprise party, collecting the RSVPs from the mail, collecting balloons and despite being caught icing the cake, Molly still managed to keep it a secret by telling him that it was all for a Country Women’s Association affair.

As Karl grew older, he went to university to study medicine, eventually bringing back his girlfriend, Susan Smith and the pair would often go walking around the farmland. Molly was a wise woman however and often gave Susan knowing looks to show that she knew what they were really up to.

By the time Karl was 22, however, he and Susan were married with a son, Malcolm who was soon followed by a daughter, Libby and another son, Billy. Sadly, Molly did not live to see her grandchildren grow up, dying before Malcolm had turned 17.

Trivia Notes• Molly loved to dance• Her favourite song was I’ll Be Your Sweetheart written in 1899 by Harry Dacre, best known as the title track of the 1945 musical of the same name• Molly was a member of the Country Women’s Association (CWA)